NSW govt open to more women's services

The NSW government says it is open to increasing services for women fleeing domestic violence, amid reports some women are being turned away from refuges because of a lack of vacancies.

Community and Family Services Minister Brad Hazzard says there are more women's refuge services than ever before, but he acknowledges there has been anxiety in the sector because of management changes since the government's Going Home Staying Home reform plan was implemented last year.

Across the state last week just seven out of 76 government and non-government shelters had just one or two beds available, while all of the refuges in the Sydney metropolitan area were at capacity, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

"It's always a balancing act as to how much tax payer money you use in any service," Mr Hazzard said.

"This is a vital one, but it's getting more money than ever before, it has more services than ever before, but I am certainly open to having even more services if that's what proves necessary.

"The bottom line is there are more services today than there were a year ago, but unfortunately the number of domestic violence incidents is also far greater and growing. I am not saying the system is perfect."

Last year the government made changes to consolidate some independent women's refuges and general homeless services as part of its Going Home, Staying Home Reform plan.

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The executive officer of Coast Shelter, which manages three women's refuges on the Central Coast, said demand for emergency shelter by women escaping domestic violence was at "a crisis".

She said her organisation has had to knock back 207 women this year because of lack of accommodation.

"Unfortunately, it does mean that some of the women remain in abusive situations," Laurie Maher told Fairfax.

In January, 26-year-old Leila Alavi was allegedly murdered by her husband in an Auburn car park.

She had reportedly been turned away from refuges up to a dozen times.

Speaking generally about domestic violence, Mr Hazzard said he was concerned about the role illicit drugs play in incidents.

"Sadly from my experience on the front line with workers, drugs, particularly ice, are catalysts for far more domestic violence than one could possibly imagine," he said.

Opposition Community Services Spokeswoman Tania Mihailuk says the government did not anticipate the increased needs in the sector, or account for losses of expertise in women's homeless shelters.

"It's shocking. It's obviously shocking to see that we now have more need and the fact that the government is not meeting that need is unacceptable, particularly given they've just boasted about a budget surplus."